An additional study exploring ways to renovate downtown Hammond with new retail and residential facilities will be conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Land Institute from March 29 through April 3.
At a recent meeting, the Hammond Redevelopment Commission unanimously approved a $135,000 agreement between the HDC and the ULI to bring eight individuals to the city to conduct that study. A $110,000 sponsorship the city received from the ULI Foundation will go toward the cost of the panel, said Anne Anderson, Hammond’s economic development director.
The remaining $25,000 will be paid by the city in two installments, she said.
The study will include a tour of the area and interviews with 75 individuals including real estate brokers, bankers and community leaders, Anderson said.
As a result, ULI panel will prepare a report and PowerPoint presentation that will summarize the panel’s recommendations. Those findings and recommendations will be presented to the city on April 3, she said.
“The ULI was intrigued with Jeff Speck’s master plan,” Anderson told commissioners.
Speck completed a Downtown Master Plan for Hammond in 2019. At the time, Speck said the city’s “bones are really good. This is a place where people are moving back.”
According to the agreement presented by Anderson, “Now is the time to implement that plan…However, Hammond and the Redevelopment Commission requests guidance from a ULI-panel on a few outstanding topics.”
Those topics include the following:
An assessment of the city-owned properties and how to best repurpose them
An evaluation of the city’s financial toolbox and how to leverage the resources available to the city as well as how to appropriately spread our financial resources to projects, and
A plan to attract retails in first floor and vacant space.
Anderson said she is organizing the group of 75 individuals who will be invited to be interviewed by the ULI panel.
“We will rely on audience members we had for the Speck presentation. I already have 50 people so far,” she noted.
In other business, the commission unanimously approved $9,500 in Homebound Conditional Forgivable Loans for one man and two women who are purchasing their first homes in Hammond. One of the women is a Hammond police officer.
Osiris Morales, a dual-language teacher at Irving Elementary, said he learned about the loan program from other School City of Hammond employees.
“Buying a house – that’s what we call adulthood,” Morales told commissioners.
Lu Ann Franklin is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
